


turn the circle

by Anonymous



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Daniel Trained Miguel, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26658970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "You want me,” Miguel said, slowly, like he was trying to gauge Robby’s sanity, all while staring at the horizontal pillar of bark and wood and leaves, “to stand on that, and do kata’s. What if I fall off?”“We hope you don’t break your neck,” Robby answered, and had to smile at Miguel’s expression, clapping him on the back, hand sliding up the younger boys back to rest on his far shoulder. “Don’t worry. I did it. I’m fine.”“Uh-huh,” Miguel said, but headed over to the spot that Robby had used to climb up, and pulling himself up.
Relationships: Miguel Diaz & Robby Keene, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Kudos: 19
Collections: Fanfic Anonymous





	turn the circle

_"You want me,” Miguel said, slowly, like he was trying to gauge Robby’s sanity, all while staring at the horizontal pillar of bark and wood and leaves, “to stand on that, and do kata’s. What if I fall off?”_

_“We hope you don’t break your neck,” Robby answered, and had to smile at Miguel’s expression, clapping him on the back, hand sliding up the younger boys back to rest on his far shoulder. “Don’t worry. I did it. I’m fine.”_

_“Uh-huh,” Miguel said, but headed over to the spot that Robby had used to climb up, and pulling himself up. He thrust his arms out to either side for balance, wobbling, and Robby bit back an inner groan. This kid didn’t exactly spark inner confidence when it came to having the fundamentals for karate. He wasn’t bad, and could certainly be a lot worse, but he also fumbled for a beaten up inhaler that Robby was yet to see him use, and lacked a fair bit of just plain body strength and muscle. He made up for it in listening skills and practical application, but it would have been nice if his punches had some weight behind them._

_“Okay!” Miguel said, wobbling a bit. “How do I do a kata here?”_

_“Spread your feet,” Robby called, backing up, dead leaves crackling under his runners, getting a better angle to watch and correct Miguel. The kid obeyed, and nearly landed on his ass. Robby fought back a wince and nodded, trying to be supportive. “Alright. I don’t care about technique right now, that’ll come later. Just do a basic kick, and try not to fall.”_

_Predictably, the moment Miguel lifted his foot, he started to lose his balance and went sideways off the tree. He was good at falling, Robby noted absently, jogging forwards to check on him. He hadn’t broken the impact in a way that would break any bones. Made sense; one of the first things Robby had drilled into the guy was how to break a fall safely. Miguel had taken to it like a bird to the sky; that was, he’d almost killed himself at first, but figured it out faster than he should have been able to._

_“Ow.” Miguel decided, and Robby laughed shortly, helping him up._

_“C’mon, Rocky,” he said, grinning. “Back on the tree.”_

_“I have no idea who that is.”_

_“Nor do I, but Mr. LaRusso mentions it a lot, so it’s probably important.”_

* * *

Eli set the tray down on the cafeteria table, but his eyes weren’t on the food, table or chair. They weren’t on Miguel or Aisha. They were on Sam LaRusso and the three guys who she was glaring down. Sam could handle it, Miguel knew, and he didn't want to get involved. Daniel was kind of protective of his kid's independence (and his kids in general) and he was kind of his dad now, according to Robby, meaning Sam's battles were her own. They'd always been her own.

Eli stepped forwards, and in a remarkable spurt of stupidity, snapped at the assholes talking down at Sam. His voice carried a bit too far, a bit too loud, people shutting up at the sound of some random kid challenging the presumably popular kids. Not that a lot of kids were really popular these days anyway; it was more just kids who knew about fashion or looking good, and then kids who did sports, and the creators, who did art or writing or drama, and so on. 

“Leave her alone.”

Miguel knew there was one way this ended. Somebody would get their butt kicked, and he wasn’t confident that Eli would do the kicking. He didn’t want to get involved himself; what Sam did was her business. Sure, he’d been there the night before, practicing with Robby, when Sam had come in and destroyed a punching bag that she’d hung up, technique raw and out of practice. The boys hadn’t said anything, but Miguel knew something had happened. It was her business anyway. Eli was just going to get embarrassed, humiliated, hurt, or in trouble. Maybe all four, and maybe even some more.

“What?” Kyler retorted, in that way of his that was supposed to mean he was the boss, but Eli, for once, wasn’t taking it. “Did you grow balls?”

“I’m not scared of you,” Eli said, fists clenched at his sides, chin lifted to glare at Kyler. It wasn’t a heroic moment. Eli was using Sam as an excuse to start a fight, and not necessarily one he could win. Kyler just scoffed, edging forwards and looking down on Eli, who was smarter than this. He had good grades, in a few years, he'd get into a good university. Sure, the American system was broken, but it was better than nothing. He just had to hold out for a few more years, he'd done it for a long time now.

Pick your battles. It was a rule, unspoken, but important, and Eli wasn't listening to it.

“What? Gonna use your fancy judo on me?”

“It’s not judo!” Eli shouted, fist flying forwards and striking Kyler in the mouth, just below the nose, sending him stumbling into the table behind him, a hand moving to cover his face. The form was good, if not a bit too telegraphed beforehand, in the shift of Eli’s feet and the twist of his shoulders, but against a wrestler like Kyler, who was all about grappling and holds, who couldn’t throw a proper punch if his life depended on it, the telegraph didn’t matter. “It’s karate.”

Kyler sneered, and pushed himself up, throwing a haymaker.

Against a trained martial artist, even one as inexperienced as Eli, a haymaker was a big mistake. Wide and easily predicted, it was a slower punch, easily blocked with plenty of options for what to do in response, a haymaker could spell doom. Eli caught it at the wrist, locking Kyler’s arm under his own, twisting painfully. Kyler yelled, and used his free hand to throw a jab, which was sloppy, form so bad that if Miguel had pulled it, Robby or sensei LaRusso would have him running katas on flat land. Not on a dock or raft or branch or something that was challenging in any way. Just flat land.

(Miguel hated land katas.)

But with Eli, he was focused on the arm lock, and the jab caught him in the nose. Eli stumbled back, and one of Kyler’s friends grabbed him by the head, getting him in a headlock. A decent one, surprisingly, that Eli struggled to break free of, finally stomping the guy’s foot and spinning out, holding onto the wrist, and twisting more than was needed. Miguel would have let go a long time ago. Eli didn’t, kicking the boy in the hip and sending him crashing into a chair, turning around to lean backwards, out of the way of another haymaker. Sidestepping would have been better, Miguel deconstructed, as one of, or maybe the only kid who was still sitting, watching with a degree of neutrality. Half the kids in the room were just yelling for a fight or screaming random sounds, the rest divided between shouting useless and bad advice and cheering one side or the other on. Aisha was shouting Cobra Kai's philosophy in Miguel’s ear. He didn’t want their philosophy; he was perfectly happy with balance and peace. You got less broken noses that way.

Eli picked up one of the nearby lunch trays, with lunch still on it, and flipped it up, throwing the food in the other fighter's face, and using the tray to beat on him. Excessive force, Miguel categorized. Far too excessive. Eli could have ended the fight already, even with the rough techniques he was using.

It stopped pretty fast after that. Someone had run and gotten a teacher, and it was Miss. Luzki. She, unlike every other authority figure in the school, was a martial artist, was a black belt in taekwondo. Miguel knew because, on occasion, she came to Mr. LaRusso’s dojo, and trained. Mr. LaRusso didn’t let her teach them much, since he didn’t want to ‘corrupt their karate’, but he did get her to teach them kicks. Taekwondo was supposed to be kicking and punching, but it was a lot more kicking than it was punching.

“That’s enough!” Miss Luzki shouted. Eli whirled around, unaware of her presence, fist cocked back, telegraphed too well, easy for anyone to see, never mind what their disciple was. Miss Luzki weaved out of the way and slammed the heel of her palm into the centre Eli's chest, hard. He stumbled back, both winded and off-balance, and her fingers wrapped around his shirt collar, holding him up. She kept ahold of his shirt, supporting him with one hand, and glared at the entire room. Everyone had gone still. After a beat, she barked out the names of all the fighters and ordered them to the office.

“Damn,” Aisha swore, sitting down heavily, as everyone else went back to what they were doing. “They had to get the one teacher who doesn’t take any shit.”

“She’s a black belt,” Miguel said absently, eyes on Eli’s abandoned lunch tray, and he only saw Aisha startle out of the corner of his eye. “Taekwondo.”

“No way, seriously? How’d you know that?”

“I was in her class once,” Miguel lied. Aisha was Cobra Kai, just like Eli. Cobra Kai hated Mr. LaRusso, and everything his style stood for. He didn’t want to lose Aisha and Eli because of that. “I’m going to take this to Eli,” he added, picking up Eli’s cartoon of milk and his food container, standing. “He’s probably suspended for a week.”

* * *

_“Tree?” Miguel asked as they pulled into their usual parking spot at the lake. Robby, in the passenger seat, reached around his headrest and swatted at Miguel, fingertips narrowly missing his nose. “I want to do the tree.”_

_“Not the tree,” Sensei LaRusso said, and Miguel sighed, a bit dramatically. The tree, once you got good at it, was fun. Running kata’s and straight-line spars were always interesting on it. Depending on which side you were on, you could do different things, and dependant on the weather, you had to balance differently. “Come on out boys, don’t whine.”_

_Miguel rolled his eyes but got out. He never whined to Mr. LaRusso’s face. He complained to Robby sometimes, in private, about aches and the like, but Robby did the same with him, and those were more... it was kind of alerting each other to where they shouldn’t hit. In a weird way._

_The three of them headed down towards the lake, hiking with their gear bags and nothing else, until they reached a fairly circular clearing, without any leaves on the ground. Miguel perked up. They were doing the circle drill._

_The circle drill was simple. Two people would circle a person in the middle, and randomly try to land a hit on whoever was in the middle. An advanced version was just dodging, while the blindfolded person in the middle had to listen to the other two, stepping aside when an attack came. It was hard, but whenever they did it, time flew past, and it was always a surefire way to get a good night's sleep. And a lot of bruises from falling on your ass._

_(Balance took a lot of visual cues. Miguel had a healthy amount of respect for blind people now. They were kickass.)_

_Robby caught the blindfold in midair, one-handed, with just a glance at sensei before he'd thrown it. He dropped his bag at the edge of the clearing, and headed towards the middle, carefully arranging it, tying it in the back, and smoothing it out with his fingers. As he did that, Miguel sat down, the few leaves crackling under him, and took off his shoes. He then stuffed his socks into it, as sensei LaRusso did the same._

_They didn’t need an explanation, so they set up, and sensei LaRusso gave the order to start._

_Miguel circled clockwise, step by step, holding himself in a fighting stance and facing Robby the entire time, going sideways. Robby had his back faced to open space, between sensei and Miguel, so Miguel was on his right and sensei was on his left, turning with them. It was his usual strategy. Miguel paused, slowing down a half-step, then another, before he darted forwards. Robby twisted around, hearing him move, the forest quiet enough that his footsteps, even without loud leaves and barefoot made enough sound to alert Robby to the change. He sidestepped cleanly, one hand guarding his face, the other guarding his torso, and Miguel’s kick missed. He went back to circling, not following up with a second kick since Robby was blindfolded, and they were warming up._

_Sensei LaRusso went next, using a punch that Robby avoided neatly as he had Miguel’s kick, and they continued to circle, taking turns at random. Eventually, Miguel and Robby switched places._

_Miguel stayed still in the middle of the circle, knees bent, tracking Robby and sensei LaRusso with his ears. He liked the training and had done a similar thing when he was younger, playing Sandman. He’d stand very still in the middle of the playground equipment, picking out sounds. People breathing. Moving. Shouting. Then, he’d lunge towards one, and was normally fast enough to catch them. If he wasn’t, they had to scramble out of the way, and always make lots of noise when they did. His strategy had resulted in him getting accused of cheating a lot, and eventually, he’d stopped playing. It wasn’t fun when nobody believed he was just listening to them breathe._

_He listened to their breathing in the circle. He listened to their footsteps. There was always a beat of something before an attack. A stutter-step, and inhale that was sharp or held for too long, something always happened to warn him. It just depended on if he could react to it in time._

_He ducked out of the way of a kick from Robby, and let his eyes close under the blindfold. It wasn’t a wide blindfold, so he could see a strip of light at the bottom of his vision, which was distracting. So he just closed his eyes and listened._

_Sensei._

_Miguel dodged._

* * *

“So, want to tell me what’s up with you?” Sensei LaRusso asked, driving Miguel home. Miguel tugged at his hoodie strings, trying to figure out how to phrase it.

“You know how Cobra Kai opened up at the strip mall?” Miguel asked, and sensei nodded, each breath carefully controlled in a basic exercise. “One of my friends, Eli. He got into a fight today, and one of my other friends, Aisha, she was shouting their motto. Eli runs from fights.”

Sensei exhaled slowly, turn signal blinking on and off as they waited for the light to turn green. “What happened?”

“The fight?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m probably not the best - a bunch of kids were filming it. You can probably find one online, under the school's name and kung fu or something.” Miguel said, twirling his hoodie's string around his finger, refusing to look “But, it started with Sam.”

“My Sam?”

“Sounded like a bunch of guys were spreading rumours about her. She confronted them at lunch, and they were telling her it was her fault, from what I could tell. Eli told them to back off, got into the fight. Olivia Ma’am broke it up. They’re suspended now.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, good thing too,” Miguel said, the light ahead turning from red to green, and they pulled forwards. “She’s got training, so she can put a stop to that stuff.”

“Cobra Kai is back then.”

“That’s not the thing,” Miguel said, then backtracked. “Well, it is, but, it’s not the only thing. A lot of kids were asking Aisha where Eli learned that stuff, and she was telling them about their dojo. They were planning to go join, by the sound of it.”

“Dammit,” Sensei swore. He never seemed to swear. Sometimes, when something crazy happened, he did, but they were never cussing-swears; words with meanings used to be offensive or bland or whatever. They were reactions. His dammit in the car was one part reaction, part cussing-swear. “All those kids.”

“Maybe they’ll quit,” Miguel suggested hopefully, leaning back in his seat so sensei could look out his window before they turned right. “Washout. If Cobra Kai can make Eli that violent, I don’t think a lot of them will stick with it.”

“Lawrence won’t let them quit,” Daniel muttered, pulling into Miguel’s apartment courtyard. “Not all of them. He’ll weed out the ‘weaker’ kids and drag the rest with him, all the way.

“And what did you mean, the kids were arguing with Sam?”

Miguel paused, unbuckled, but the car door still shut. “They spread some rumours. Her, I think, her boyfriend, made it sound like she - like they went to a movie and something happened. I don’t know the details.”

Sensei LaRusso nodded, fingers drumming on the wheel, Miguel opening the door. He paused, looking back at his sensei.

“Hey, uh, please don’t tell Sam I told you that? About the boyfriend thing. She’ll be furious if she knows someone told you.”

Sensei stared at him for a long moment. “Is this one of those teenage silent rule things?”

Miguel laughed. “Kind of, yeah.”

“Alright. As far as she knows, you just mentioned the fight. Nothing else. That good?”

“Yeah. Thanks, sensei LaRusso. See you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

* * *

Tomorrow was a Saturday. Miguel woke up to Eli texting him about being suspended for the fight and how stupid it was; Miguel left him on reading so that Eli knew he’d seen it, but was ignoring him. In a few hours, he’d message him with something short and sweet, figure it out from there.

He had plans anyway. Robby had found a new hiking trail. It was supposed to take a full day to walk, meaning that they were going to run it instead.

Miguel went through the motions of Saturday chores and breakfast with his mom and Yaya, before he headed out, perching on the edge of the flowerbed in the middle of the courtyard, and texting Robby.

He was expecting the beaten-up pickup that Robby had bought off someone’s lawn to drive in. Instead, he got Eli and Aisha, walking in.

It wasn’t like they didn’t know where he lived. Aisha had visited once for a school project, and for whatever reason, seemed to think their small space was awesome. Her reason was; you know who’s home when you get home. You don’t have to yell and run around trying to find your family. And Eli had been over a few times.

“Why didn’t you answer my texts?” Eli demanded, stopping before Miguel, who remembered that Robby’s dad lived in the apartment across the courtyard from his own. And Robby’s dad was a former Cobra Kai, and also Lawrence - oh _shit_. “I know you read them.”

“What’s there to say?” Miguel asked, sliding his phone into his pocket, post-reading a text from Robby. “You got suspended for fighting. The rules are clear, and so’s the camera footage. You helped start that fight. And even if you argued self-defence, you were kind of excessive, Eli.”

“So what?” Eli snapped, crossing his arms. “They do shit like that all the time.”

“They don’t do it in front of cameras,” Miguel reminded both of them. Aisha was more focused on Lawrence’s door than the conversation, while Eli seemed fired up and geared to punch something. Hopefully not Miguel. He didn’t want to have to retaliate to stop Eli from doing something to him, or anyone else. “You can only blame yourself for getting suspended, Eli.”

“My name’s not Eli,” Eli said, lifting his chin proudly. “It’s Lip.”

Oh, great. A kid with a cleft lip calling himself Lip. Eli, if you thought it made you sound tough, it didn’t. It made you sound like an idiot.

“Sure,” was all Miguel said. “So, why you here?”

“We want you to join us,” Eli said, cocky and confident. “Cobra Kai. We can teach you how to defend yourself.”

More like they'd teach him how to be an ass. Miguel didn’t want that. He liked Robby and his sensei. He liked the trees and the blindfolds and learning about bonsai trees and the runs and Mr. Miyagi's stories and the stability of it all.

“I’m good.”

“Give it a try,” Aisha prodded, and Miguel shook his head. “One class. C’mon. Give it a shot."

"No," Miguel shook his head, turning his head to look to the entrance to the courtyard, his feet barely brushing the ground by the angle of his position on the flowerbed. He wondered how long it would take for Robby to get to the courtyard. He wanted out of this conversation. "I don't think I'd enjoy it."

"You don't know that -"

"Eli." Miguel cut him off, shaking his head slowly. "I said no. Drop -"

The sound of a door opening had drawn everyone's attention. Lawrence stepped out, and both Eli and Aisha called out, calling him sensei. Well, that confirmed that. Miguel swallowed, fishing out his phone, and fumbling to message Robby, trying to warn him about his dad, but he could hear the strained noise of the pickup truck, and he turned his head to see Robby pulling in, looping around the flowerbed. Miguel stood up, grabbing his backpack and headed over to the passenger side door, hoping that maybe they could leave unnoticed.

"Your dad," he hissed, closing the door behind him, and Robby's grip on the wheel tightened, the material straining under his fingers. Miguel dropped his backpack at his feet, struggling with the seatbelt, but in his rush, he couldn't grab it right, couldn't click it in fast enough.

Eli banged on the window with his fist. He'd never done that before, how had Miguel not noticed that his behaviour would culminate in a fight? Should have been obvious, in hindsight. Miguel would keep an eye out from now on.

"Who's your friend!?" Eli shouted, and Robby exhaled heavily, closing his eyes. Finding his centre, and leaving Miguel to answer. Miguel shrugged, not wanting to yell in the car, and both Aisha and Lawrence came over, to see what the commotion was about. Robby opened his eyes and pointedly locked his door. Miguel followed suit and set his hands on his knees. Robby pulled away, and silence reigned supreme in the car for a while, until the apartment complex was out of sight.

"What was that about?" Robby asked, and Miguel leaned back in his seat.

"They want me to join Cobra Kai. My friends, not your dad."

"Have to say," Robby said, amusement thinly veiling his emotions, "You pretending to be a rookie and then laying them out would be a sight to see."

"I'm not joining Cobra Kai," Miguel told him, and Robby nodded, pulling into a gas station, and lining up for a turn at the pump. The fumes permeated the truck, somehow smelling weirdly good, yet bad at the same time. "I saw Eli fight those guys. He was excessive, and I don't want to be like that."

"Yeah," Robby said absently, leaning forwards in his seat, eyes on the van in front of them. "It's not a good feeling."

Robby filled up the pickup truck's tank while Miguel raided the store, sticking to options that their sensei would be more approving off, but still getting junk food, and then they set off for real. Eli and Aisha spammed Miguel's phone, so he put their numbers on mute and ignored them, leaning back and making his way through the pack of dill pickle chips that he was sharing with Robby. The road had turned from cement to patchwork cement and was soon going to go gravel. They had the radio playing and some rock song was turned halfway up as they bounced their way to the forest.


End file.
